2025 CatalanGP Race Report

Marc Marquez’s (Ducati Lenovo Team) unbeaten run continues, but the #93 was handed a gold medal gift on Saturday afternoon at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia as Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crashes out of the lead while over a second clear. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) finished the Tissot Sprint just over a second behind Marc Marquez to earn silver, while Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned a relatively comfortable P3 after breaking clear of a brilliant KTM battle.

93, 37 & 20 GO TOE-TO-TOE ON OPENING LAP
Alex Marquez got the launch he was searching for as Quartararo, Marc Marquez, and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) went side-by-side into Turn 1. Acosta was on the outside of Marc Marquez as Quartararo swept inside the duo to grab P2 and tag right onto the back of Alex Marquez, leaving the Spaniards in P3 and P4. 

An edge-of-your-seat opening lap then unfolded between Quartararo, Marc Marquez and Acosta. Marquez was up the inside of the Frenchman at Turn 10 but Quartararo dug his heels in and kept the inside line into Turn 12, and then Acosta fancied a piece and overtook Marquez too. Then, earning a dose of slipstream from Quartararo’s Yamaha, Marquez got the better of both into Turn 1 and despite having initially lost out, Quartararo bit back again to keep Acosta behind him.

The Sprint then settled down as Marc Marquez and Quartararo hunted down Alex Marquez, who sat 0.5s clear of his brother and 0.9s ahead of Quartararo. Acosta, out of shot, then lost a place to Di Giannantonio and then dropped back into the clutches of teammate Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Remember that KTM scrap we mentioned?

At the front, Quartararo couldn’t keep tabs on Marquez duo’s pace and by Lap 6 of 12, El Diablo was 1.3s adrift of the #93. But it looked like Alex Marquez had the championship leader covered as things stood – the gap was up to 1.3s with four laps remaining. 

DRAMA: ALEX MARQUEZ CRASHES FROM LEAD
However, later on that lap at the tricky Turn 10, the leader was down. Alex Marquez’s front end washed away, and that was that for the #73’s Tissot Sprint gold medal hopes. An almost certain victory vanished, and thus, the lead was Marc Marquez’s.

Heading onto the final lap, Marquez’s advantage over Quartararo was 1.298s, and he wasn’t going to give that up, was he? No, of course not. Marc Marquez clinched his 14th Sprint win of the year in dramatic fashion as Quartararo returned to the rostrum alongside Di Giannantonio, as a fierce KTM battle unfolded behind.

YOUR SATURDAY POINTS SCORERS
In that scintillating scrap, Acosta just held onto P4 ahead of Bastianini and Binder, as the trio crossed the line just 0.075s apart in the top six. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) ended the Sprint in P7 and beat fellow HRC star Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) by 0.3s, with rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) earning the final point in P9.

MOTOGP - RACE
Redemption: Alex Marquez fends off Marc Marquez for Barcelona glory

Heartache on Saturday, elation on Sunday. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) banished his Barcelona Sprint demons to fend off the challenge of Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) to earn a phenomenal 25-point haul on home turf, as the #93’s unbeaten run ends at the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalonia. It’s still a hard-earned P2 for the championship leader, but it’s a result that means the title race rolls on to at least the Japanese GP. Behind the jostling brothers, P3 went to Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) as the Italian secures his debut Sunday podium with KTM.

THE START: MARC GRABS EARLY LEAD
Despite a decent enough launch from pole position, Marc won the Marquez battle into Turn 1 to earn an early lead from P3 on the grid, as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) got another lightning launch from the middle of the second row to grab P3. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was P4, with Bastianini P5 as two Italians then fell out of contention at Turn 1 on Lap 2.

Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), up the inside of Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), made small contact with his VR46 Academy stablemate and ultimately lost control and slid out. Trying to avoid Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) then locked the front end of his GP25, and that caused the #49 to crash moments after too. Both riders were OK, but it was podium hopes over for the duo.

ALEX HITS THE FRONT
At the front, a change for the lead on Lap 4. Alex Marquez made a classic Turn 1 move stick on the #93, and now, Marc Marquez had Acosta and Bastianini looking to attack. At this stage, Quartararo was busy defending P5 from Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) and compatriot Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR), the trio were a second behind the top four on Lap 6 of 24.

On Lap 7, Brad Binder’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) weekend ended at Turn 7 as the South African crashed from P10, one place behind a fast-starting Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). From P22 on the grid, Pecco was up to P9 and just over three seconds away from the lead, and a lap later, the double MotoGP World Champion was past Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and lapping in P8 – a great recovery ride so far.

ENEA MOVES PAST ACOSTA
By the time we’d clicked onto Lap 10, the top four were 2.1s up the road from the fight for fifth, which was now being led by Zarco. And the rider ahead of the HRC star was now Acosta, because Bastianini made a move on his KTM buddy to climb into P3. The gap to Marc Marquez was 0.8s, so what did ‘The Beast’ have up his sleeve in the victory chase?

Zarco’s great outing then came to a premature end at the tricky Turn 10 on Lap 11, so that now meant Marini was promoted into the top five, 3.4s away from Acosta’s rear Michelin soft tyre. At the front, Alex Marquez continued to lead by 0.5s, but it was Bastianini who was the fastest rider on circuit now – the Italian had a couple of tenths in his back pocket at this stage of the Grand Prix.

On Lap 14, Acosta lost the best part of a second to the top three and now sat well over a second behind the podium fight. Was that soft rear tyre starting to cry no more? It appeared so. Acosta quickly dropped to three seconds adrift as Alex Marquez, Marc Marquez and Bastianini continued to race in the 1:40 bracket.

MARQUEZ VS MARQUEZ FOR VICTORY
With one KTM now out of victory contention, was another beginning to fade? Bastianini was now struggling to keep tabs on the Marquez brothers as the top two dropped into the low 1:40s. On Lap 19 of 24, it looked like we were strapping ourselves in for an Alex vs Marc battle for Barcelona honours.

Fair play to both. They were a second faster than anyone else on track with five laps to go and on Lap 20 of 24, a couple of small mistakes came the way of Marc Marquez to hand Alex Marquez a 0.8s advantage. That was down to 0.7s a lap later, but with three to go, Alex Marquez was controlling things very well.

Two to go. The gap? Just above a second. How’re your nerves, Alex? One more lap, and the gap had risen further to 1.3s. Surely this was redemption done after his Sprint crash? Half a lap down and no mistakes were made. Turn 10, yesterday’s nightmare spot? Done. And around the final few corners, Alex Marquez took the chequered flag 1.7s clear of Marc Marquez to win for the second time in MotoGP – and at a special venue too. Marc Marquez’s unreal victory run does come to an end, but #93 will be chuffed enough to earn P2 in front of his home fans and bring home a 1-2 for the Marquez’. Bastianini’s efforts were rewarded with his first Sunday podium for KTM, a top ride from ‘The Beast’.

YOUR POINTS SCORERS IN BARCELONA
Acosta faded big style in the second half of the Grand Prix but the #37 held onto P4, as Quartararo won the fight for P5. Ogura enjoyed a superb last couple of laps to climb into P6, that’s the rookie’s first top six result since Thailand. Bagnaia’s comeback ended with a P7 and although that’s not the result the #63 wants on paper, from where he started, that’s a very respectable ride.

Marini’s performance was also noteworthy. P8 doesn’t tell the full tale as HRC continue to prove they’re well on their way back, as Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) hands Yamaha a double top 10 following the Portuguese rider’s P9 result. P10 went to reigning World Champion Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), while Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), and Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) picked up at least a point in Barcelona.

Enea Bastianini P3

"It was a very tough and long race, but we managed the start pretty well I think. Once I was behind Alex, Marc and Pedro, I tried to keep their pace and be smooth with the throttle. Then Pedro started to lose a bit on the front two, and that gave me the opportunity to overtake. It was not easy because he brakes really late, but we took our chance and we managed well. I took some distance on Pedro then, but the two Marquez increased their pace in the end, so from there I just focused on keeping my pace until the end! We can be really satisfied, it is our first Sunday podium, so we are really happy and let’s enjoy it with the team!"

Lorenzo Savadori NC

“I had two long laps to serve, but my pace was good and similar to the group ahead of me, and I was catching up. Unfortunately, with four laps to go, my front end closed up and I crashed at turn 10. The whole team worked well this weekend, in the first wild card with the test team, and we were always close to the factory riders in terms of performance. So we have to see the glass as half full, the bike is improving, and now we will continue with the next tests we have planned at Misano."

MOTO2
Daniel Holgado intoccabile, suo il successo nel GP della Catalogna

Leading every lap, commanding the Grand Prix and taking his first victory, there’s only one word that can describe Daniel Holgado’s (CFMOTO Impulse Aspar Team) Catalan GP: perfect. Blasting off from pole and making it look easy, the #27 became the ninth different winner of the season ahead of Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and super-sub Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in a tense 21-lapper. Elsewhere, Manuel Gonzalez (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) extends his advantage to 38 after a disastrous Sunday for his rivals.

A lightning getaway from polesitter Holgado saw him snatch the holeshot and lead the opening laps ahead of Dixon. At Turn 4 on the opening lap, the #96’s teammate Filip Salac (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) was forced out wide and into the gravel whilst further around the corner, a fast-starting Ayumu Sasaki’s (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP) Grand Prix was over, crashing out. Settling down on Lap 3, Holgado headed Dixon whilst Muñoz gave chase in third, continuing his impressive showing ahead of Izan Guevara (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) and Championship leader Gonzalez in P5.

At the start of Lap 6, Muñoz’s charge continued as he bounced through into second ahead of Dixon under braking for Turn 1. At half distance, Salac was taken out further behind by Jorge Navarro (KLINT Forward Factory Team) at Turn 1 whilst at Turn 7, it was a fast crash for Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego), dinting his title hopes with Gonzalez up in P5.  On Lap 16, Gonzalez attempted to pass Guevara at Turn 1 but went wide and thus lost the place but a lap later, made it work and secured fourth.

Back at the front, Holgado’s impressive ride continued, pulling out a 2.5s gap to Muñoz. The replacement rider was starting to come under pressure from a resurgent Dixon, just half a second between them before on the penultimate lap, the Brit took P2 at Turn 1. Further back in P12, Diogo Moreira’s (Italtrans Racing Team) weekend got worse as he was issued a Long Lap Penalty for exceeding track limits.

One Aspar rider may have taken their first win back at Balaton Park and it was the same again but for the other side of the box. A flawless ride from Holgado saw him take a lights-to-flag victory, a first in Moto2 and becoming the ninth different winner of 2025. Dixon held off Muñoz for a first podium since Germany whilst Muñoz’s is his first ever. Gonzalez extends his Championship lead with P4 ahead of Guevara who matched his season’s-best in fifth.

Celestino Vietti (Beta Tools SpeedRS Team) was next up ahead of teammate Alonso Lopez whilst David Alonso (CFMOTO Impulse Aspar Team) surged through from 25th to eighth. Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) rounded out the top ten. Moreira’s penalty left him 14th, a blow to his title aspirations.

Diogo Moreira P14

"We are pleased with the weekend; we did a great job. We knew we would struggle with the tyres in the race. We will continue to work hard ahead of Misano."

MOTO3
Piqueras pounces to claim crucial win in Barcelona

It’s a victory that could prove crucial come the end of the season for Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) as the Spaniard wins an intense Moto3 battle in Barcelona, as the #36 cuts five points off Jose Antonio Rueda’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo) championship lead after the latter recovered from a Long Lap penalty to collect P2. Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) may have been passed at the final corner but the Japanese star held on to pick up P3 to earn his second podium of the season.  

From his debut pole position, David Almansa (Leopard Racing) held onto P1 into Turn 1 as Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) made a great start from ninth to climb into an early P4 behind Almansa, Joel Kelso (LEVEL-UP MTA) and David Muñoz (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP), meanwhile, Piqueras lost out at the start and dropped to P6 from the front row, as the Spaniard’s title rival Rueda took his Long Lap penalty at the start of Lap 3, which dropped the #99 from P5 to P15.

After a sluggish start, Piqueras bullied his way into P3 by the end of Lap 4, with Rueda back up to P10 and well inside the lead gaggle of riders at the same point. Meanwhile, Almansa was doing a lot of the leading and by Lap 7, the #22 was still sitting at the front of the freight train – but there were 14 hungry Moto3 riders swarming. And one of those was Quiles, and the Hungarian GP winner took over the race lead baton at the start of Lap 9, as Rueda stalked his way up to the top five. But Almansa, and then Piqueras, bit straight back on Quiles to demote the star rookie to P3.

And on Lap 11, Rueda swooped into the lead for the first time. Now, what was the response? Well for Quiles, Turn 1 saw the Aspar rider run wide after running in hot and that cost him time – podium contention to P14, how costly would that be?

With four laps to go, Rueda was 0.5s clear of a pack that were scrapping behind for track position. At this stage it was Almansa in P2, Piqueras in P3, Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) in P4, Furusato in P5 and Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) – from the back of the grid – in P6 after Muñoz made a small error on the exit of Turn 2.

So with two laps to go, the threat of Rueda breaking clear had vanished. Piqueras was right with his title rival, as the top 10 were locked together heading onto the last lap. And it was all change at Turn 1. Piqueras grabbed the lead and Rueda was suddenly P4 behind Furusato and Almansa, as Rueda lunged at Turn 5 – but it didn’t work. Turn 10 then came but still, Piqueras fended off the threat from behind. At the final corner, after getting back into P3 earlier on in the lap, Rueda lunged Valentino Rossi style up the inside of Furusato to pinch P2 away from the Japanese rider, but it was Piqueras who secured a crucial victory ahead of the World Championship leader.

Furusato did hold onto P3 to earn his first podium finish since Qatar, while the Leopard duo of Almansa and Fernandez narrowly missed out on a top three in P4 and P5 respectively. Guido Pini (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) crossed the line in P6 ahead of Kelso and Muñoz, with Yamanaka and Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3) rounding out the top 10.

Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was a solid P11 on his return, while Quiles had to settle for P12 after his late mistake at Turn 1. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power) and Marcos Uriarte (LEVELUP-MTA) picked up the final points in Barcelona.

David Almansa P4

“I'm very frustrated. Today was the day. Everything was in place, the mindset, the feeling... We fought every corner, managing the race very well, but once again we missed out on the podium. We were having a great weekend, but we couldn't put the icing on the cake. We'll try again at Misano.”

Adrian Fernandez P5

“It wasn't the result we were hoping for. We gave it our best shot, we tried every overtake, every move that could get us closer to the podium, but it wasn't enough. We'll keep working hard for next week's race in Misano, but today I can't say I'm at all satisfied with the result.”

Riccardo Rossi P16

Arbi Aditama P24